The video game with a heart

Playing Muncher on your cell phone doesn’t feel like a socially conscious thing to do. It’s just plain fun, in the same way Pac-Man, an obvious inspiration, is.

GenPlay Games

Play games. Help fight child slavery

But the game from San Jose’s GenPlay Games has a bit of a nice secret. Half of GenPlay’s revenue from the games will go to fight child slavery. The money is specifically being donated to five anti-slavery organizations: the International Justice Mission, Hagar International, The Polaris Project, CAST, and Free the Slaves.

Granted, the Munching Away Slavery campaign could use a better title, but its intentions couldn’t be better. I can’t recall the last time a game company signed over this much of their revenue for a cause.

Executives said the idea has been kicking around for a while after many of them had began hearing about the growing problem of child slavery.

“The realities of what was happening to defenseless children sold into a life of bonded labor and the price tag put on them for a profit led us to act,” said Michelle Lee, director of marketing. “We were convinced that in our own small way we could help these children come out of modern-day slavery.”

The game’s only been out for about a month so it’s too early to say how much it will contribute to anti-slavery work. But you shouldn’t feel obligated to get the game just to support a good cause. It’s also a lot of fun playing a caterpillar stalking a maze as you eat up mushrooms and take down other evil caterpillars. It’s the kind of simple fun made for a cell phone.

You can find the game on most phones on Sprint, Cingular/AT&T, Boost, Bell, Virgin and Helio. Munch away.